[Editor’s note: this piece about repainted toys comes to us from John Starling, reporter at large and man of leisure.]
The films on this list have narration that elevates and illuminates the narrative, shapes the character of the film, and captivates the audience. For some of them, you could argue that the narration is so integral, that it’s hard to imagine ever watching the film without it. Criteria for inclusion in the list included the quality of the screenwriting, the necessity of the narration to the finished film, the quality of the film overall, and the quality of the narrator’s voice.
10. “The Princess Bride” (1987)
The narration in this one is a bit less traditional, since Peter Falk also appears onscreen doing the narration in the scenes where he is reading the book to Fred Savage, but the fairy tale quality of the film definitely benefits from his presence, even if this movie contains a bit less narration than some of the others on this list. You can get the Criterion 4K on Amazon here.
9. “Murder My Sweet” (1944)
Considering how much the trope of a detective narrating their case is associated with film noir, it’s surprising how many classic film noirs do NOT feature the detective doing voiceover, or don’t feature any voiceover narration at all. One of the exceptions is “Murder My Sweet,” featuring all of the classic hard-boiled lines you’d except from Phillip Marlow (Dick Powell), who also voiced some of the greatest detective shows in radio. Get the Blu-ray or stream it on Amazon.
8. “Sunset Blvd” (1950)
It’s hard to not grab the audience’s attention when the film start’s with the narrated voice of a dead man floating in a swimming pool. You can get the 4K of this classic film on Amazon.
7. “Fight Club” (1999)
The narration in “Fight Club” was essential for bringing us inside Ed Norton’s head, as well as bringing in some of the great writing from Chuck Palahniuk’s original novel. Get it from Amazon here.
6. “No Country For Old Men” (2007)
The combination of Tommy Lee Jones‘ deadpan delivery and the writing of Cormac McCarthy and the Coen Brothers, create an incredible atmospheric bookend to this bleak classic. Get the Criterion 4K Edition from Amazon here.
5. “Goodfellas” (1990)
The narration in this film was incredibly influential on a generation of filmmakers. It has been referenced, imitated, and even parodied be many filmmakers since. In fact, director Martin Scorsese himself evolved it later for a film even higher on this list. Pick up the stunning 4K (on sale!) from Amazon here.
4. “A Christmas Story” (1983)
The conceit of a character’s older self narrating a look back at his childhood hit the nostalgia button hard and becomes and essential part of this film, helping to elevate it to a perennial holiday classic. Though the film was not a big success on its release, the older-character-looking-back gag was almost certainly the direct inspiration for the narration in the later tv series “The Wonder Years” (1988). Perhaps it even influenced another great coming of age story narration in “Stand By Me” a few years after (1986). [We’re not doing this same ranking for tv, but if we were, “Arrested Development” would be a shoe-in.] Pick up “A Christmas Story” 4K from Amazon here.
3. “The Shawshank Redemption” (1994)
Arguably, this movie would still be great without the extra insight provided by the narration, but when you’ve got Morgan Freeman, in one of his early “voice of God” narration performances, it belongs on this list. You can pick up the 4k from Amazon here.
2. “Casino (1995)
If Scorsese broke the mold with the narration in “Goodfellas,” he perfected it in this film. Multiple actors deliver classic lines throughout the film in a narration track so iconic that it’s almost more memorable than the visuals. Get the 4K on Amazon here.
1. “Apocalypse Now” (1979)
Martin Sheen’s narration gives us some of the most memorable lines in this film, and what a VOICE. It is well known that Harvey Keitel was originally cast in the lead role, and while we can’t say how his acting would have been in the complete version compared to Sheen, but there’s no way his voice could have matched the gravelly gravitas that the young Martin Sheen had. Fun fact, Martin Sheen’s BROTHER Joe Estevez did much of the ADR and narration work on this movie. We haven’t been able to find any documentation as to WHICH lines he dubbed in (or in fact, if Martin Sheen did ANY of his own narration), but is it possible that some of the most iconic lines in Martin Sheen’s career (indeed in all of Cinema, such as “Never get out of the boat”) were actually not even Marty, but his brother? Get the 4K Final Cut from Amazon here.
Honorable mentions:
The early films of Guy Ritchie, like “Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels,” and “Snatch.”
Too many Wes Anderson entries to list, where his signature style of narration is as much a part of his films as his signature color palette.
Some other notable narration we have to mention- Classic Sword & Sorcery intros.
We’re not exactly sure which film started the tradition of an epic voice giving us the preamble (and then never showing up again in the movie) but it was used notably in films like Ralph Bakshi‘s animated “The Lord Of The Rings,” Bakshi’s other animated epic “Fire & Ice,” of course “Conan The Barbarian,” and later, Sir Peter Jackson’s “The Lord Of The Rings.”
One more nod – The outro narration by the older version of a young character:
The two standouts for this great twist would be “The Name Of The Rose” and “Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior” (where the old man narrator we first heard at the beginning of the film is revealed to be the feral kid, who is MUTE throughout the film).
Finally… Let’s talk “Blade Runner.” Few film narration tracks spark as much debate as this one. The short history bit on this is that an earlier version of the scrip had a bunch of film noir-detective style narration and Harrison Ford suggested they remove it. They did. But then, after the film was complete, the studio panicked that no one would understand what the hell was going on in this movie and demand that they put the narration back in. Neither Ford nor director Ridley Scott liked it, and it was finally removed ten year’s later in the “Blade Runner” Director’s Cut version (and also isn’t in The Final Cut version).
The vast majority of “Blade Runner” fans consider the film to be far better without it, so it is not included on this list. However, while we agree that the film works better sans narration, there were some classic VO lines in it, such as “I didn’t know how long we had together… who does.”
